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Cafe Au Lait
'Chapters 4-9 in Wake Up and Smell the Coffee ' Chapter 4 - Lansing We pulled ourselves away form the river and tried to get warm, falling asleep in an abandoned warehouse (we scoped it out first). The next day, we made sure nothing in our packs were damaged, and made our way into town. We were running low on time so we chose to ride Greyhounds, for we could leave soonest. In about an hour, we arrived in Lansing. Rejuvenated from the bus ride and sips of nectar, we didn’t bother to check into a hotel, instead walking into the first Biggby we found. “I’ll have a tall frozen hot chocolate please,” I said to the guy behind the counter. “And a Caramel Marvel,” piped in Natalie. “And a Cappuccino,” added Emma. “And, uh, a hot chocolate,” said Rebecca. “Two,” finished Seth. We payed for our drinks and sat down. We watched for any signs of monsters, any signs of anything Greek. “Uggg,” I said while sipping my frozen hot chocolate, “at least at Starbucks they had good food.” “I thought that you’d been drinking those ever since Starbucks,” said Rebecca. “Well, yeah, but they’re bad. They don’t taste like hot chocolate and have a really weird aftertaste. It seemed like no coffee line was safe so I just went back to Starbucks.” “Lemme taste,” said Natalie. I handed her my drink and she took a sip. “Eww,” she said, handing it back. “Nasty.” “I know, right?” Then I sighed, looking around, “I don’t notice anything guys. Should we just come back later?” A collective chorus of “yeah,” “sure,” and “good idea” filled my ears. I nodded and stood up, still wary, threw my drink out, and walked out of the coffee shop. To pass the time, we meandered around Lansing, drinking in the snow covered, eastern Michigan city. It was a nice place, and I liked it a lot. The soft white flakes fell slowly through the air, covering the ground in their powdery fluff. People walked around, their destinations the multitude of stores, covering themselves with scarves and hoods to accommodate the usual winter weather. The stores were all welcoming and unique. Different kinds littered the blocks, and Lansing, being a college town, swarmed with young adults, making it a lively place. It was now about midnight and we had successfully avoided suspicion by ducking into a Meijer store and browsing for about two hours. After passing the home goods section for the second time, we decided that we’d wasted enough time in the city. We ventured back towards Biggby, hoping this would all go smoothly. Chapter 5 - Biggby At about one o’clock, we arrived. Natalie worked on picking the lock, and we nervously stood waiting. “Why are we doing the'' exact'' same thing as last time?” asked Seth. “Because it worked,” I replied curtly. Just then, the door sprang open, opening outward on ominously creaky hinges. “You’re awesome,” I told Natalie. “I know,” she responded jokingly. We walked in and started snooping around. I could hear the others looking behind shelves, in drawers, under tables, everywhere. What did we find after about an hour and a half of searching? Nothing, absolutely nothing. We regrouped in the back of the store. “I can’t find anything. Did any of you?” asked Natalie. We all shook our heads. “Okay, let’s leave, find a place to stay, and figure something out,” I suggested. They all agreed and we started towards the exit, but then we heard voices. Faint at first, but they were definitely there and, worse, coming right at us from outside, blocking our escape. We rushed deeper inside, hiding ourselves. The voices came closer. “He gets us out for what? Nothing,” we heard someone say. “We don’t do a stinkin’ thing.” I put my ear to the floor, listening to their footsteps, an old trick I learned form my uncle. I heard four pairs of feet, and catching Natalie’s eye, I held up four fingers. She nodded, understanding. “Yeah,” said another voice, “all we do is wander around. No fun at all.” “I’d almost rather still be stuck on Aiolis,” said a third. Their voices melded together in agreement. Wait, Aiolis. Why did that sound familiar? I didn’t have the time to dwell on it much more; they were right on top of us. I could see that they wore mechanic suits, the ones with the names embroidered on them, but I couldn’t see more than that. As they passed us, one was saying, “..and the least he could do would be to.....” I stopped listening when I noticed Natalie. If either of them turned around, they would see her. She noticed this too, and was half-walking, half-crawling to a better spot. “...would it kill him to....wait, hold up...” Natalie dived to cover just before he turned around. The other mystery people looked at him with confusion. “What’s wrong?” one of them asked. “Do you smell that? Demigods.” Panic seized me; this was not good. They were coming closer, plodding back towards us slowly. If they searched, they would find us easily, and I didn’t have a clue what we were up against. I caught Natalie’s eye and mouthed the word “run.” She nodded. I next looked for Rebecca. I caught her eye and again mouthed the word. She didn’t get it. “What?” she mouthed back. I tried a few more times, even using hand motions, but she still didn’t understand, and all the while they were getting closer. I didn’t have time for this; they weren’t far away and I couldn’t even see Seth or Emma. I did the only thing I could. I took a bag of coffee and threw it into the back of the store. All four of the suspicious people turned to the resounding thunk it made, and I took my chance. I stood up and yelled, “RUN!!!!!” They looked back at me, surprise on their faces, stunned by my sudden appearance. That was god sent. It allowed for my friends (thank goodness they were thinking) and I to run towards the exit and get a decent head start. By the time that they started after us, we were already out the door, but they weren’t far behind. We were sprinting as fast as we could with four unknown enemies hot on our heals. Chapter 6 - Storm We made it about three blocks, darting into a park, before they were too close. It was evident that we weren’t going to be able to outrun them. Also, it didn’t seem as if we would be able to lose them. Those two options impossible, we turned around, breathing heavily from our long sprint but still able to maintain a decent glare. “Look what we got here!” said one of them. I could just make out the name “Joe” on his suit. The one next to him, Fred, said in a diplomatic tone, “Alright, let’s make this easy.” He spread his hands in a welcoming gesture, one I mistrusted immediately. “You come with us and no one gets hurt.” Simultaneously, our thoughts in tune, we drew our weapons in answer. Fred sighed, then in a menacing voice, he warned, “You asked for it.” “Finally something fun!” said one called Bob, a giddy smile stretched on his features. “Boys, let’s rough ‘em up.” A huge gust of wind blew through the deserted park and literally knocked me off my feet, flinging me onto the hard ground. As I stood, a deep darkness grew over us, able to be seen even in the blackness of the night. Looking up, I noticed a storm brewing. Thick black clouds swirled above our heads, nothing like the cheery clouds filled with snow that dotted the sky earlier that evening. Refocussing, I saw the four men advance, a smile plastered on each of their faces. Fred came towards me, Joe towards Natalie, Bob towards Emma and Rebecca, and an unknown one towards Seth. I prepared myself for battle, recalling my training and letting my instincts be my driving force. As I watched Fred advance, a sword formed in his hand, created from the air around him. Looking as if he had not a care in the world, Fred snapped his fingers and another burst of wind came at me, but I managed to stay on my feet. Choosing to retaliate, I loaded an arrow and let it fly. Instead of hitting him, it flew off course as wind blew it away. I was confused. Barely a breath of wind stirred in the park, exempting the gusts from the four men. My arrow shouldn’t have been affected like that. This had to be something more, something mythical. Then, it hit me. That burst of wind clicked together the gears in my mind, making them spin in perfect unison. Aiolos, the wind island. These were storm spirits: Anemoi Thuellai. This was not good, and a feeling of dread came over me. Storm spirits were very difficult to fight due to the fact that they were made of air. You had to hit them perfectly to get them to disintegrate. “Guys!!!,” I yelled over the storm, warning them, “they’re Anemoi Thuellai!” “What?” asked Seth, not recognizing the term. “Storm spirits!” Seth had just sliced his sword at the unknown spirit, but it passed right through, leaving the unharmed being filled with laughter. Surprise flashed across my brother’s face, and he yelled, “Then how are we supposed to fight wind?!” That was a very good question. “I ordered a grande, not a venti!!!” piped in Natalie, engaged in combat but holding her own. I didn’t have time to respond; I had been backing away from Fred to try to warn them, but he was now all but on top of me. Hesperus changed into a sword and my shield was on my arm. Another gust of wind hit me and blew me into a tree, my head grazing the hard wood. Dazed, I got up, feeling unsteady. A drop of rain landed on my face, and I glanced up at the sky. The dark clouds had taken on an even denser look, and, steadily, the rain fell from their depths. Turning my attention to the storm spirit coming at me, I was surprised. Instead of being forty feet back where he should have been, Fred was six feet away. Apparently they were fast too. I went at him with my sword, trying to gain the upper hand, but I was constantly fighting through wind. Furthermore, the rain made everything slippery, not allowing for good footing or a good grip on my weapons. I was constantly having to reposition my feet, and the comfortable handle of Hesperus slid in my grip. Apparently getting tired of having to fend me off, Fred once again blasted me with wind. My balance was off, but I managed to stay upright. As my feet skidded back on the slick grass, I took this chance to assess my friends’ conditions. They weren’t very good. Seth and Natalie were about the same as me: decent, but heading downhill. Rebecca was hurt, probably due to the fact that arrows were useless, so Emma was basically on her own. Our futures didn’t look too bright right about now. Fred, with a sneer on his face, slashed at me with his sword. I managed to block most of it, but it still grazed my side. Another gust of wind had me on my back even though I hid behind my shield. I froze, and once agin, the gears in my brain clicked, providing me a conclusion to which I was oblivious before. I shouldn’t wear a shield! I tossed it aside, not bothering to take the time to change it back. “Don’t use a shield!” I yelled. “Too much surface area!” Seth dropped his and Natalie's was already on the ground, whether by accident or not I wasn’t sure. Emma, however, still had hers strapped on her arm. “Emma!!!” I yelled while still trying to fight Fred. “Don’t talk to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” she yelled back. Stunned by her ferocity, I let it go, letting her handle herself. I continued to fight but couldn’t gain ground, even with the advantage of not with the constant wind and rain impairing my grip and vision. Occasionally I would develop a groove and start to get through his defenses, but he would just blow me back every time, and I would have to start all over agin. Even without a shield, the gusts had enough power to knock me flat. More than often, I would slam against something, be it a tree, the ground, a pole, or anything, and smack my head. I was getting worn down by the minute. No one can keep fighting forever. Slowly shutting down from exhaustion, your body stops functioning, and no amount of will power can revive it. I could feel myself getting close to that process. My body was getting weary, tired from the beating it kept receiving. Adrenaline only lasts for so long, and I was now running on fumes. Fred sent another gust at me, harder than the others ones, saying to his companions, “Let’s just finish this up. I’m getting bored.” The wind slammed me into a tree. My head snapped back against the rough bark, and I slid down it, too weary to get up. Lying on the soaked ground, I groaned at the stiffness I felt at every movement. That, however, was the least of my problems. Through foggy vision, I saw Fred advance, a grimace on his face. Chapter 7 - Boreas “Alright. I don’t think they’ll be any trouble now,” said Fred from above me, satisfaction coloring his tone. “Still wish it would have been longer,” muttered one who I assumed was Joe by his voice. Still dazed from the hit to my head, my vision was blurry, and my mind was not up to speed. I vaguely saw Fred collect Hesperus from where it landed when it flew out of my hand. He examined the blade, but I was in too much of a stupor to do much about it. Then, I felt him grab a hold of me and drag me onto my feet. With my eyes closed against the oncoming migraine, I only felt it. I only felt the curious sensation as if we were being carried by the wind, but it wasn’t very gentle, more like being carried by storm gusts. My eyes fluttered open unconsciously when I felt that, but it was over in a split second. In the dark, a tall office building towered over us; its shadow an ominous sight. Up in the top floor, a single light was on, coming from a corner room, and I dreaded to know what was in it. They dragged us inside and into an elevator. It came to an abrupt stop, a female voice coming on over the intercom, “5th floor. Head offices.” True to the elevator layout, they dragged us into an office. Through heavy eyes, I glanced around briefly. The first thing that stuck me was it’s cold manor. Nothing in this office was comforting or warm. It was filled with dark furniture. The angles were sharp, cutting off at an abrupt corner. Everything, from the pens to the books, were in perfect order, as if the owner liked things straight and crisp. I kept my head down, almost fully relying on Fred, who was gripping the top of my arm, to support me. I had just been bombarded with wind and rain; I was exhausted. My eyes were now shut, trying to dispel a splitting migraine that I had obtained from repeatedly hitting my head. I’m not sure about others, but my migraines are horrible. They vary in intensity and length, but either way, I try to avoid them. They impair my vision and mind, making it next to impossible to ignore. Normally, when I get a bad one, I take a four hour nap, choosing not to deal with it consciously. That, however, would not work for me now, so I tried to ignore and suppress it the best I could. It was a losing battle, however, and my friends didn’t seem like they were much better off with their injuries. “Hey, Boss, look what we got. Found ‘em snooping around,” said the one holding Seth. At this point, I was still unsure of his name. I heard papers rustling on a desk. “Well, well, well. What would five demigods be doing here?” A male voice inquired with mock curiosity, then, much rougher, he asked, “Who are they?” “We’ve got Seth Alder and Rebecca Marks. Athena and Apollo,” he replied. “And this is Emma Clarkson, Aphrodite,” chimed in Bob. “Not sure who this is,” said Joe from next to me. “Hmmm, Athena by the look of her. Natalie Cole, perhaps?” he said. Boreas, I guessed, judging on the way the storm spirits called him “Boss.” “How do...?” started Natalie. “I make it my business to know the demigods,” he said, cutting her off. “It saves me the trouble and, believe it or not, is very useful.” “Got one more here, Boss,” said Fred, who was holding me. My eyes flew open as he grabbed my face, forcing it upwards so Boreas could have a look at me. Boreas’ dark eyes moved from Natalie’s face to mine. As they did, a look of shock glanced through them. Next, disbelief shone prominently on his cold, pale features. “No, it can’t be. Impossible, but she can be no other....” “Boss, what..” started Fred. Boreas was still muttering to himself. He looked as if his composure was shattered. I could only imagine what was going on in his mind, what he was thinking, but, whatever it was, it didn’t seem good for us. Briefly composing himself, he yelled, “Get them out of here; interrogate them! All except this one.” He was pointing to me, obviously distressed. Chapter 8 - Problems The storm spirits dragged my friends out of the room, leaving me alone with Boreas. I was more confused than ever; I was sure that I had never met this god of the north wind before, so what was he so upset about? I was trying to think it though, but my headache wasn’t helping my thought process. Boreas stayed silent for about ten minutes, his eyes closed, as if he was calming himself. I frantically tried to think of what he would want, or a way to get out, but it was hopeless. I had no idea what to expect, and I had no idea where my friends were going or what they would face. Also, I wasn’t in any condition to fight. Just then, Boreas started talking, now fully composed. “You are a daughter of Athena, yes? Judging by your eyes and personality.” “Yes,” I answered uncertainly, not knowing how much to divulge and not wanting to anger him, already having seen how his mood could change. “And you were born when the air was crisp, a chill in the wind, snow falling to the ground...” He said this more as a statement than as a question, as if his mind was wandering. “What..?” “You are Kassi Banoight, are you not?!?” “Umm, yeah.” I was now terribly confused. “How did this happen?! How did you survive?!!” he yelled, standing up from his chair dark, leather chair. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “Don’t lie to me! What happened then?” “Uh.....” I was utterly bewildered. What was happening? “Everything was in place! It was no fault of mine! Nothing went wrong. So it must have been you. What did you do? How did they find you?” “Really, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Maybe if you explained...” I put my head in my hands, his yelling was penetrating into my brain like ice-cold daggers, adding to the migraine. I could barely concentrate on his words, much less try to figure out what he meant by them. “Zephyr was unaware coming from Athena; he couldn’t have suspected, told anyone to be on the lookout. Athena was cautious, but she didn’t know for sure. It was decided on a whim. A bit of fun. No one knew!” He glanced down at his dark desk. “I blew you away!” he yelled, his eyes snapping back to look at me, coming out from behind his desk, pointing at me accusingly. “Away to a place he could never find you, never!! Lost!!” Zephyr? Athena? Blew me away? What was he talking about? I picked up my head, and tried to asses his mood. Wary of his mood swings I backed away towards the wall, “What do you mean?” “How did you survive!?!” he continued, coming at me, “How is it that you’re alive!?” He was right in front of me now, staring me in the face. His features were livid with anger and hate. Then, he calmed again, just as a winter storm turns into a gentle dusting of snow, turning away, talking to himself, “You’re not special, no extraordinary powers. No, it can’t have been you. Someone else, yes, someone else must have known. Someone else must have meddled.” He turned back to me, “Now, what about your appearance here? Why did you come?” I didn’t answer, my headache making it difficult to keep up with his mood swings. “How did you find out?” he asked again, this time more forcefully. “You did the same thing as Phobos. Well, without the monsters and with Anemoi Thuellai it looks like, but relatively the same concept.” I had to tell him enough so that he wouldn’t get all worked up again. If he did, who knows what would happen. “I always knew that fool would get me discovered. Sorry to rain on your parade, but I’m not going down that easily.” He swiftly grabbed me and spun me around, flattening me against the wall. As his skin touched mine, my body froze with a numbing cold. He griped my wrists securely and pulled them together. As he did, a cold, bitting stream of air wrapped around them, solidifying into an icy rope. He grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the office. I fought, but weakly, for my migraine was impairing me, and the bonds on my hands were too tight. “What’re doing! If you think that...” My attempt at a strong impression was cut off as his hand clamped over my mouth. Just as before with my wrists, a frosty layer of air formed between his skin and mine. As it spread, Boreas pulled away, and the air turned into a freezing piece of duct tape. I was stunned and tried to scream, but nothing other than incoherent mumbling could be heard. He dragged me into a plain room where three of my friends were in the middle of being bound to chairs by the storm spirits. Natalie was missing, and I was worried. Boreas slammed me into a chair of my own. He made quick work of securing me to it, binding my ankles, shoulders, and waist in the same icy cords. Just then, as Boreas was finishing up, Natalie came in, dragged by Joe. “...think that you’ll get away with this,” she yelled at him, apparently in the middle of a long work of verbal abuse, “let me tell you something. I’ll...” Her sound was cut off as Boreas, now standing and crossing to the door, swiped his hand through the air. A cold blast hit Natalie and formed the same cold gag that I had. She whirled around, bewildered. Joe, making use of the distraction to finally tie her down without any struggles, did just that. Before she could react, Natalie was half-bound to a chair, and couldn’t do much else to prevent the rest of it. “Gag them all,” came Boreas’ cold, bitting voice as he paused in the doorway. “I don’t want them talking to each other.” The storm spirits rushed to do what he asked, and Boreas stayed, as if the thought had occurred to him that he should make sure they did their job. When they were done, he nodded to himself, obviously satisfied. “Come on. We’ll be back soon to ask them more questions, but for now, leave them.” He then left without a second glance. The storm spirits followed him out, grumbling and laughing to one another. As a last thought, Bob poked his head back inside and snapped his fingers. Emma’s chair tipped over backwards as a gust of wind hit her, and she crashed against the floor, her scream barely heard due to the gag. Another mumble followed as Bob left, snickering, and I thought it sounded something like, “That’s so mean!” Except, I had other things to worry about; we were stuck in a building with a crazy wind god. They had left us helpless, no weapon in sight. Chapter 9 - Ice Wide-eyed and screaming into our gags, we struggled, but to no avail. The bonds were too strong. My body was freezing where it touched me, and it impaired me both physically and mentally. On the plus side, however, it was numbing my migraine. I continued to fight, but it was hopeless. My friends could see that too; nothing of ours could break our bonds. After about half an hour of struggling, sometimes giving up, other times fighting with every ounce of strength, Boreas and the storm spirits came back in. I immediately slumped in my seat, making it look as though I had given up. Boreas raked the room with his stark eyes and crossed over to me, a smile on his face. “Look at this one here,” he said in a taunting voice. “Looks like you can break even the most spirited horse.” It took all the will power I had not to lash out at him them and there, but I restrained myself, keeping calm, not even a glare forming in my eyes. He crossed to Emma tipping her right-side-up. “How about you?” Her retort was lost in a mumble. He backed away, surveying all of us once again, his henchmen standing behind him ominously. “Now that you’re all here, I could use you. The other gods sometimes seem to forget about me. They never send news to the North Wind, no, they keep it for themselves,” he said, pacing, “I have to work extra hard to obtain information. Now that you are here, however, you can keep me up to date.” He paused in his movement, looking at us once again. “What’s new? What’s been happening? Five demigods such as yourselves must have tons of information concerning the other gods.” He waved his hand, and our gags disappeared. “Well?” Natalie spoke up, "We're not going to tell you anything. You could, and will, abuse any type of information we give you!" "Yeah," added Seth. "What makes you think we'd tell you?" he said with a laugh. Boreas took this in silence, a thoughtful expression displayed on his cold features. "Very well. If that is how you want it, so be it." He started to walk away, once again waving his hand, except, this time, the movement made the gags reappear. "I'll keep you for later. I'm sure you'll give me what I want eventually. I can be very...persuasive. Anyway, ransoms are always nice too." He turned around once more before leaving. "Just...chill..in here." The door slammed shut, and I noticed that the room was colder than before. I looked down and realized that the floor was turning into ice. It started from the doorway and was slowly creeping its way across the room, shimmering eerily in the artificial light. It reached Rebecca first and started to wrap around her legs. She struggled as soon as she realized what was happening, but the semi-translucent ice didn't budge, halting her movements. Next, it crawled towards Seth, then me, steadily, unperturbed by Rebecca's ongoing struggles. Tendrils snaked around my legs, thin at first, but then expanding to form choppy layers of ice that allowed no room for movement. I kicked and struggled against the hard material, but no matter how hard I fought, I couldn't break through. The strange ice had made its way to Natalie and Emma by now, and Rebecca was covered up to her neck, eyes wide and still trying to break free. Seth wasn’t far behind, and I was covered up to my waist. The shimmering glaze froze my body. I could feel everywhere it touched getting more numb by the second. Everything that I tried to slow its progress failed; it continued without stopping. Every inch that it grew on me lessened my movement and my struggle. Rebecca and Seth were now both covered in the magical substance; both were perfect ice statues. This was a preservation method, I realized. Boreas would just keep us frozen until he needed us. This knowledge heightened my struggle, but with the same result. The tendrils snaked up my face, and I gasped at their cold touch. Natalie was close to being covered, and Emma had it up to her elbows, being the farthest away. There was nothing we could do, and the horrible feeling of helplessness and failure clouded my mind as the ice thickened across my eyes. Just as it covered my body, I blacked out from the cold, frozen in a block of ice. Seconds later, it seemed, I regained consciousness. Due to the freezing temperature, it took a while for my mind to process what was happening. It seemed as if the ice covering my face was thinning. Sure enough, it melted away, leaving me soaking wet but ice free. Astonished at what had just occurred, I looked around and saw bright orange tendrils illuminated on the stark blue of the ice on my friends. Looking down, I also saw the same tendrils on me. As I looked closer, they looked to be made of fire. Confirming my suspicions, I saw the ice around my body thinning. The veins of fire twisted slowly along the ice and, eventually, it all melted. Our bonds had melted with the ice, and we were free. Dripping wet, Rebecca asked, “What just happened?” “Umm,” I replied, not exactly sure myself. “Some fire just saved us from being frozen.” “But who sent it?” questioned Natalie. “Hephaestus?” supplied Emma. “No, I don’t think so,” came Seth’s voice. “Yeah,” I agreed. “What would the incentive be?” “Apollo?” piped Rebecca. “That didn’t seem like the sun to me,” Natalie said. “True,” Rebecca agreed. “But then...” started Seth. He never finished, for just then, a column of flame erupted in the corner of the room, melting what was left of the ice that was shimmering on the floor. As it died, a girl stood in its place. She was fair skinned and small, covered with a brown cloak, but a sense of power radiated from her. When she looked up, her eyes danced with flames. “But then,” she said, “it would mean me.” Chapters 10-13: Chai Latte Category:Adventure Category:Action